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NZXT Sentry LX Fan Controller Review

A sticker protects the LCD display, which has a non-glossy finish to prevent light reflections. Its non-rectangular shape is part of the nice design. The smaller left part of the screen is there to display the date and time, and the bigger right part is where the primary functions are displayed. The buttons are well labeled; you easily hear a "click" when you push them.

The thin aluminum structure has a black finish. As you can see, the printed circuit board is not hidden at the back, so there is a minimum amount of material used; this makes the unit lighter, but its robustness is not sacrificed.

There are many components glued on the printed circuit board. These include some capacitors, and the temperature probes connectors. Each of them, and also each fan, has its own connector - which is great. To get better wire management, you can disconnect what you are not using; but in order to do that, you will first need to peel off the hot glue. On the pictures below, you can also see where you need to install the supplied battery. Like on a motherboard, it is to keep your settings, and also keeps the clock running.

A Molex connector is used to power the fan controller, as well as the connected fans. As you can see, the five fan connectors and probes are labeled from 1 to 5. When using the automatic mode, fans will adjust their speed in accordance with their respective probes. For example, fan 3 will work in conjunction with probe 3. I left some protectors on the temperature probes to show you that they were well protected, which is a good thing, because they can easily be damaged. You can also see that all of their wires join together to form a flat cable - but don't be afraid, you can easily peel each wire apart from another.

In the next pictures, you can see the Sentry LX working. Its black finish fits well in a case of the same color. As you can see, a fan is plugged in the fifth connector. The Sentry LX displays its speed, and an image of the small blades turning. In the first picture, the fan is running at full speed; in the second one, I slowed it to 800 RPM. The blue bars under the speed adjust accordingly.